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132ª Divisione Corazzata "Ariete"
Formation The Ariete Armoured Division was an armoured formation of the Italian Armed Fprces during World War II. It was formed in 1939 as the second armoured division in the Italian Army after the formation of the 131st Centauro Armoured Division. The division fought in the North African Campaign until being destroyed during the Second Battle of El Alamein. French Campaign The 132nd Ariete Armoured Division was formed in Milan in February 1939, comprising the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment, 32nd Tank Regiment (equipped with L3/35 light tanks and M11/39 medium tanks), 132nd Artillery Regiment, as well as several supporting divisional units. The division took up reserve positions near the French Alps at the start of World War II, but did not see action in the Italian advance to Menton. Operation Compass The Ist and 2nd Tanks Battalion from the Ariete fought as part of the Maletti Group that was overrun in the Battle of the Camps . The 3rd and 5th Tank Battalions formed part of the Special Armored Brigade (Brigata Corazzata Speciale, or BCS) that fought well in the defence of Mechili and Giovanni Berta. The remnants of the Maletti Group and the BCS were destroyed in the Battle of Beda Fomm. Siege of Tobruk The Ariete in the form of the 132nd Tank Regiment and 8th Bersaglieri Regiment, with a detachment from the Sabratha Division acting as pathfinders, formed part pf General Erwin Rommel's spearhead during his first desert offensive, capturing Benghazi and Mechili along with 3,000 troops from the British 2nd Armoured Division and 3rd Indian Division that ran into machine-gun and anti-tank companies of Bersaglieri in ambush positions outside Mechili. On the night of 30 April/ 1 May 1941, the Ariete in the form of flamethrower tanksTHE EARLY ATTEMPTS and SEIGEand 8th Bersaglieri and supporting Guatatori overrun and capture the R3, R4, R5, R6 and R7 strongpoints from the Australians. On 3 May, the Australian 18th Brigade counterattacks but recaptures only one strongpoint from what Australian historian Mark Johnston admits were Italian defenders. The Australians recaptured R7, but are forced to relinquish the strongpoint when the defending Bersaglieri troops launched a counterattack supported by armoured cars. The 3-day action is later known as the Battle of the Salient. Operation Crusader During Operation Crusader, the division successfully defends Bir el Gobi against the British 22nd Armoured Brigade, inflicting heavy losses on the attacking British armoured columns. During 29 and 30 November, the Ariete and supporting Bersaglieri battalions capture a considerable number of New Zealand, Indian and British troops. Recalling the loss of the 21st New Zealand Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Howard Kippenberger, who later commanded the 2nd New Zealand Division reported that: About 5.30 p.m. damned Italian Motorized Division (Ariete) turned up. They passed with five tanks leading, twenty following, and a huge column of transport and guns, and rolled straight over our infantry on Point 175.Infantry Brigadier, Howard Kippenberger, p. 101, Oxford University Press, 1949 On 15 December 1941, the Brescia and Pavia divisions defeat General Alfred Godwin-Austen attacks , allowing the remaining 23 tanks of the 15th Panzer Division to rejoin the Ariete armoured columns in the Gazala Line and (along with supporting motorcycle battalions from the 8th and 9th Bersaglieri Regiments ) overrun the attacking 1st Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) from the 4th Indian Division, capturing 1,000 British troopsDas Afrika Korps: Erwin Rommel and the Germans in Africa, 1941-43, Franz Kurowski, pg. 125, Stackpole Books Battle of El Gazala The Ariete obtained early success during the Battle of Gazala, overrunning the British-officered 3rd Indian Motor Brigade at Rugbet Al Atasc on 27 May 1942, capturing 1,000 troops in the process. The Ariete then successfully defended the panzer formations of the Afrika Korps from strong British armoured attacks mounted on 29 May and 5 June. El Alamein During the initial fighting in the First Battle of El Alamein, the Ariete, which was down to 6 or 8 serviceable tanks and 1,000 men, having just arrived in the positions assigned to it at dawn on 3 July 1942 and due to the confusion caused by Allied air attacks, was forced to withdraw after losing 531 men killed, wounded or captured and several artillery batteries and a half a dozen tanks. Rommel's report to Albert Kesserling that the Italian armoured division having been decimated with the loss of 100 tanks was greatly exaggerated.Rommel's North Africa Campaign: September 1940-November 1942, Jack Greene, Alessandro Massignani, p. 196, Da Capo Press, 2007 During the Battle of Alam el Halfa, the Trieste, Brescia and 90th Light Division, supported by tanks and self-propelled guns from the Ariete and Littorio Divisions, counterattacked in the area of the Munassib Depression, forcing the New Zealand 26th Battalion and 5th Brigade and the British 132nd (Kent) Brigade, practically back to their forming up positions, after the New Zealanders and British had advanced some 3 miles. During the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Ariete is reported to have fought very well right from the start of the battle on 24 October: The Ariete Division, the Bersaglieri Battalion and units of the Brescia and Folgore Divisions fought magnificently. Montgomery's 13th Corps was able to make minor break throughs in the eastern minefield, but did not reach the main front line.The Foxes of the Desert, Paul Carell, p. 279, Bantam Books, 1962 The Italian division later covered the withdrawal of the Afrika Korps from El Alamein. On 4 November, at about 15:30 hours, the few surviving tanks broadcast their last message to Rommel: Enemy tanks broke through South of Ariete Division. Ariete thus surrounded, located 5 kilometers north east of Bir-el-Abd. Ariete tanks keep on fighting!Rommel's Desert War: The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps, Samuel W. Mitcham, p. 176, Stackpole Books, 2000 The British 22nd Armoured Brigade had a tough fight lasting several hours, before the survivors from the Ariete Armoured Division and 8th Bersaglieri Regiment caved in and retreated: Soon after midday, ten miles southwest of the Aqqaqir ridge, 22 Armoured Brigade came up against the tanks and antitank screen of the Italian rearguard, Ariete Division. Waller had yet another portee shot from under him, but he, Bill Ash, Alf Reeves and Sid dug the 6-pounder in and brought it to bear on the M13s that stood in the way. For most of the rest of the day they slugged it out until finally, under the constant pounding, Ariete broke and ran, abandoning equipment everywhere. The southern flank of Rommel's defences had been utterly destroyed. The men they had fought were the Bersaglieri, mobile light infantry like themselves, supposedly an élite bunch. The cock-feather plumes in their helmets did not look so jaunty now as they lay twisted on the ground. The riflemen dug graves, They found piles of propaganda postcards, men in feathered hats marching towards Cairo. There was a songbook too. Waller went through it with Bill, trying to make out the meaning of the lyrics. 'L'Addio del Bersaglieri.'End of the Beginning, Phil Craig, Tim Clayton, Hachette, 2012 On 6 November 1942, the German High Command reported that in this sector that the Ariete tanks and Bersaglieri had defended : ...the British were made to pay for their penetration with enormous losses in men and material. The Italians fought to the last man.The Desert War Notes Sources Category:Armored Divisions Category:Units Category:Italian Units